Revealed
by Eleanor Damaschke
Summary: What would happen if the dwarves didn't know that Bilbo Baggins was a girl? BagginShield. AU. Thorin/fem!Bilbo. Concept shamelessly stolen from Erebor and Weeds on Archive of Our Own.
1. The Reveal

"Too small. Too small to be a warrior, too small to carry very much- he'll just be a burden. He'll slow us down, and I won't be responsible for dead weight in my Company!"

"I'm not asking you to be responsible for Bilbo. You asked me to find you a burglar, and a burglar I've found. Now either you can take the hobbit, or you can set out with your Company of 13 and hope for the best."

Thorin had been furious. "I will not be responsible for his life."

"Agreed."

Now, Thorin was regretting bringing the burglar along at all. The hobbit had gotten them into trouble already with trolls and orcs- and now he'd gone and gotten himself lost in the goblin tunnels. The others were bickering now over who had been carrying him and who had dropped him and who had failed to see him, who had failed to notice. He knew, however, with absolute certainty, whose fault it was.

"I never should have let him come," he growled, closing his eyes.

"We need to go back!" Kili and Ori were rallying the others. "Come on, Bilbo needs us!"

"NO." Thorin's voice stopped them in their tracks, and Kili looked almost like he was going to burst into tears.

"But Uncle... he's our burglar. We need him."

"Obviously, he doesn't need us," Thorin snapped, trying to bury the pain and guilt deeper. "The hobbit is gone, and he's not coming back." I never should have let him come. I never should have taken that risk. He's not my kin, he's not even a dwarf. He never should have been asked to give his life for our Quest. Needless loss of life had never been an easy burden to bear, but it wasn't a new one. Thorin knew he would shoulder it as he had the countless others in his lifetime, and keep going. He always had to keep going.

"Actually," a familiar voice came from the trees, and the hobbit emerged with a smile on his round face, "I'm right here." Shouts of joy and relief echoed from the trees. Thorin took a pace forward, fighting a smile. Bilbo was alive. That was one less burden he had to bear. But... there was something... different about the hobbit. Dori had noticed first.

"Your waistcoat! You've gone and lost all your buttons." He tutted and shook his head and tugged gently on the garment. Then he frowned. Then he stared. "Bilbo...?"

The hobbit cleared his throat and shifted slightly. "About that. Yes, I had been meaning to tell you..." Thorin shook his head. Whatever it was that had changed, it could wait.

"These hills will be crawling with orcs and goblins by moonrise. We need to put as much distance between us and them as possible." He turned to lead the way, and found Gandalf smiling down at them, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. "What is it now?" The Wizard always had somethin or other to turn his plans on their collective heads, but this time, Gandalf merely shook his grey head.

"Nothing, nothing. Let's be going, shall we?"

"You're a girl." The tone of Kili's exclamation was somewhere in the range of incredulous relief. As though he'd suspected it, but never really believed it. Bilbo sat near the fire late that night, mending holes in his her trousers. She looked up, smiling guiltily.

"Well, to be fair, I didn't know you didn't know until we were out of the Shire."

"How were we supposed to know?" Kili looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or be disappointed. The young dwarf was obviously struggling with this new revelation. Thorin was struggling with it, too. Laying on his back on the opposite side of the fire while Oin stitched up the hole in his shoulder, he turned his head slightly so he could watch the female without being obvious about it.

The fire parted around a diminuitive shape, and the hobbit came charging out of nowhere to stab the White Warg with his little dagger. The enormous Wolf had staggered and howled in pain lashing out with dripping fangs, missing the burglar by a hand's breadth. He had his blade at the ready, yelling something at the Pale Orc, as if that would have made any difference at all. Fury burned in Thorin's veins. What right did this burglar, this halfling have to deprive him of his honorable death, his defeat in pitched battle?

As the warg roared and writhed uncontrolably under his foe, the heat of the blaze swept past them. Bilbo's buttonless waistcoat had flapped open and Thorin had seen, silhouetted against the firelight...

It wasn't exactly how he'd imagined discovering such a thing. Not, Thorin amended, that he had ever imagined it at all. Bilbo was explaining to the stunned dwarves, in very simple phrases, that she had always been female, and that she had come anyway, and their knowing that she was female didn't change anything about why she was here.

"There you go," Oin grunted, nodding slightly. The healer inspected the stitched wound closely, frowning. "That should do it. Just try to take it easy for a while... or not." Thorin was already clambering to his feet and pulling his tunic and coat on, wincing when he flexed his arm. When he looked up there were eyes on him. Thirteen pairs, to be precise. The Wizard, it seemed, was dozing against a large boulder.

"She's not coming."

"What?!" Bilbo puffed her cheeks out, looking incensed. The dwarves seemed divided on the issue. Some protested, others looked uncertain. Dwalin, Gloin, and Nori at least, were nodding agreement. "Dwalin, where's the next village? Do we have enough gold between us to arrange for a pony to take her home?"

"Now wait just a minute!" Bilbo was standing up now, brandishing her waistcoat at him as though it were supposed to intimidate him. He thought it somewhat amusing that she thought herself at all imposing, standing barely above three feet tall. "Just wait right there. You hired me. You can't just send me back home without giving me a chance to earn-"

"I didn't agree to have a female on this Quest," growled Thorin, stooping slightly to meet Bilbo's gaze. It was ridiculous how small he she was. "I can do whatever I like with you, even if that means sending you home. I won't be responsible for this." He gestured at her as he straightened, glancing around to see if Dwalin was ready to answer his questions.

"Thorin Oakenshield." At first, Thorin thought that Bilbo had decided to chide him, as his mother might have. Then he realized that it was Gandalf speaking. The Wizard was looming above them now, though when he'd moved away from his resting spot was a mystery. "Might I have a word with you?"

Thorin scowled, but followed Gandalf out of earshot. In a way, in a very secret and deeply buried corner of his heart, he was somewhat relieved. It had been one thing to allow her to tag along when they were in the relative safety of the West. He'd expected her to turn back, to complain until she was left behind. He'd expected her to be useless, too, and cowardly. He'd been proved wrong. And had admitted it. What more did the Wizard want?

"I will not have her here." Thorin tipped his chin back slightly so he could look up into the Wizard's keen eyes. "A woman has no place in my Company."

"You still think her too soft for your Quest?" Gandalf raised his bushy eyebrows, as though incredulous. The dwarf tensed, righteous anger flashing through him. It was brief, but it was there. He didn't like the suggestion that Bilbo was useless, regardless of her status in his Company.

"That's not what I said." Even as he growled the words, Gandalf's beard twitched, and the dwarf knew he was smiling. Frustrating as it was, Thorin was beginning to wonder if anything ever surprised the old man. "Women are too valuable to be wasted on this Quest. You know as well as I do that the odds are against us. It's likely enough that we'll die before even reaching the Lonely Mountain-"

"By my last count," rumbled the Wizard, who sounded suspiciously like he was trying not to laugh, "that little hobbit-lass has saved your life no less than three times since this Quest started." That stung. A life-debt was not something to be taken lightly, and the fact that he owed Bilbo was not one that sat comfortably with the dwarf. Anger replaced discomfort quickly enough.

"That's beside the point!" exploded Thorin, not caring that the rest of the Company could hear him. "She doesn't belong here!"

"Thorin, listen to me. She knows the risks just as well as your nephews, and like them, she chose to come anyway." Gandalf didn't sound like he was smiling anymore. He looked seriously down at the dwarf who would be King Under the Mountain, and spoke to him as he might to any other king. "I cannot stop you from sending her back, and you cannot stop her from following you anyway. And I have no doubt that she would. She's a very stubborn creature."

For a moment, Thorin let the silence sit between them. The camp sounded very quiet, and he realized that everyone must have stopped to listen when he was yelling. With a sigh, the dark-haired dwarf scowled up at his mentor.

"Fine. But I am not responsible for her."

"This much, we've already determined. Don't worry, Thorin. I'm not asking you to be her guardian. Only to tolerate her presence."

With those words ringing in his ears, Thorin stomped back toward the camp. He arrived just in time to hear Kili ask Bilbo a question.

"So why didn't you tell us?" Kili was peering down at the hobbit, and Thorin stopped outside the ring of firelight, listening.

"I already told you, I thought you knew."

"No, I mean... after that. After you knew we didn't know. How come you didn't tell us?"

Even from that distance, Thorin could see her lift an eyebrow at Kili in a way that reminded him powerfully of his sister, Dis.

"The first time I realized you didn't know, you were playing a game just outside of the Shire. Do you remember what that was?" Was it just the firelight, or was there a slight pink tinge on her round cheeks?

"Game?" Kili looked confused, frowning in concentration. Then he blushed as he remembered the incident in question. "Oh. You mean the one where we were comparing the size of our-"

"Yes. That one." Billa was quite obviously red by now. "It was only after you invited me to join in..." She shook her head, closing her eyes as though that would block out the memory somehow. Thorin chuckled. Even if she didn't belong, perhaps having a female in their midst would tame his wild nephews a bit. They were certainly looking quite chastised now, which was a refreshing change. Well... for now, at least, she would stay with them. But he would find a way, some way, to avoid the end he knew was drawing nearer. He couldn't send her into the dragon's lair. Not now that he knew.

"We didn't mean to. It was just a bit of fun."

"Fun I hope you never decide to have again. I mean, really."

"We didn't know!"

"And you two, princes. I feel sorry for the lot you're supposed to lead."


	2. The Haircut

The poor hobbit-lass had been through so much. Thorin watched her doze beside the fire, bundled in one of Beorn's huge woolen blankets. There were times when he was forced to admit that his Company would be incomplete at thirteen (not to mention cursed with ill luck). She was their lucky number in more ways than one, and it was slightly maddening to acknowledge, time after time, that Bilbo was simply too useful to leave behind. Oh, what he wouldn't give to be able to simply let her stay here with Fili and Kili, just protect all the ones he thought he couldn't afford to lose. He wouldn't delve too deeply into that train of thought. Thorin ran a hand through his wild, dark hair and sighed heavily.

"Such sighs make me wonder," said Balin with a faint smile, sitting down beside his king. "Something bothering you, lad?" Thorin looked at his white-haired friend, and shook his head slightly. What could he say? The others were settling in to sleep. Gandalf and the Great Bear were both conspicuously absent this night, and the dwarf-king couldn't help but wonder where they went. But Balin wasn't so easily put off.

"You might be able to hide behind that mask, Thorin," the older dwarf said wisely, "but that doesn't mean that it's the truth. Something troubles you, and I would bet many a gold piece that it has to do with our little burglar." Balin nodded toward the halfling, and Thorin grunted.

"You might be right." He didn't feel like admitting anything outright. "There are so many depending on our success. Our people need a home, Balin, and asking outsiders to sacrifice themselves for that cause..." He shook his head. "You saw that little home of hers. We took her away from all that- and for what? So I could send her into the maw of a fire-breathing beast. What sort of a king does that make me, Balin?" He had started that train of thought, intending not to bring Bilbo into it at all. Yet once again, the hobbit had wormed her way into his mind.

"I don't believe that's a question I can answer." Balin was still smiling. Sometimes Thorin found himself envying the dwarf his ability to just... stay so calm. It was like he was completely unbothered.

"She shouldn't be on this Quest at all!" Thorin stood up and scowled. "I don't know why the Wizard chose her."

"Yes you do," answered Balin calmly, his smile not even flickering.

"Well, I wish I didn't." Thorin checked on the others to make sure none of them were listening in. If they were, they had the presence of mind not to look it. "She's not suited for this. She can't fight, she doesn't know the first thing about navigation or survival- look, first time she breaks a bone, I expect she'll be begging to go back home, just like I-"

"Thorin Oakenshield, you great clothead under the mountain, do you really think I would go back after all this?" Bilbo's tone was sharp enought to draw blood, and the two males looked around at her, one startled, the other smiling quietly. the hobbit was standing up, looking at them over the folds of the enormous blanket with a surprisingly fierce expression on her usually soft face.

"Well, I-" She didn't give him a chance to defend himself.

"If you think, even for one second, that I'm going to turn around and abandon you lot after all we've been through, you have another think coming. Bebother and confusticate you dwarves! You think that just because someone's smaller than you-"

"That's not what I-" Thorin could feel the eyes of ever dwarf drilling into his back, and he lifted his hands defensively. She didn't let him finish that one either.

"Oh, so it's because I'm female is it?" There was a dangerous tone to that question, and the dwarf king had a feeling that there was no right answer to it. He kept his mouth shut and shook his head. "Well, let's fix that, shall we?" Bilbo drew her sword, and for one terrifying moment, Thorin had the double impression of Bilbo castrating him, or impaling herself. Neither of those options made the least bit of sense, so when she lifted the blade to her neck, he was just as stunned as if killing herself hadn't occurred to him at all.

"What are you-"

With her free hand, she gathered the thick mass of curls that hung down around her shoulders. It took only a quick slice. The elven blade was sharp enough to cleave bone, so cutting hair was child's play. Stunned silence descended over the Company, and somehow that silence was very different from the silence that had been present before that moment.

"I'm not just a hobbit. I'm not even just a burglar. Thorin, I'm a part of your Company, and I'll do whatever I have to in order to prove that to you." She threw her hair dramatically down on the rough wooden floor as she pointed fiercely at him with her sword. "And if I ever hear you even thinking about sending me back, I'll just leave you in the next mess you get into, and heaven help you when I come back from the Lonely Mountain with a dragon's head."

In that moment, Thorin didn't doubt for a moment that she would do precisely that, if that was what it took. The moment, of course, was interrupted by Fili's devastated voice.

"Bilbo! Your hair!" There was a tone of such horror in his words that Bilbo was quite startled out of her righteous anger. She turned to look at the blond, frowning.

"What about it?" The hobbit-lass couldn't seem to fathom why each of them looked, to varying degrees, like she'd just thrown away a bag of gold.

"You... you... why did you do that?" Fili was approaching slowly, looking as though he might start crying at any moment. He looked at the sad pile of curls on the floor as though they were a beloved, fallen comrade.

"Well, if being a female really affects your opinions of me so much," she started, wrinkling her nose in that stubborn way she had, but Fili interrupted her, his gaze flicking up to her face.

"What under the earth would make you think that your hair had anything to do with that?" Fili sounded almost insulted, and Thorin had to work hard to swallow a chuckle. It was most amusing to watch the hobbit's expression as she opened her mouth to snap out an angry retort, pause, scan the Company, and come to the conclusion that every one of the dwarves around her were male, and all had long, braided hair. Her mouth formed a little O of surprise, and Thorin pursed his lips to hide a smile.

"If it was in your way, we could have braided it for you," said Kili, joining his brother and squating to gather up the fallen curls genlty.

"It'll take years to grow back," said Fili mournfully, kneeling beside his brother to help him.

"It's not like I cut off my hand," she grumbled, obviously trying to save face. "It's just hair."

"It's so soft," said Fili suddenly, and got elbowed for his comment.

"Would have looked pretty in braids," mumbled Kili.

"It's just hair," snapped Bilbo, wading back into her blanket. Thorin could see her running a hand through her shortened locks, though, and wondered if she regretted it.


End file.
